Does Training with Structured Input Improve Perception and Comprehension of Bound Morphemes in Children Who Are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing?

Abstract

Children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HH) are delayed in many aspects of language development, including acquisition of morphosyntax. One linguistic task that is particularly difficult for children who are D/HH is the acquisition of word-final bound morphemes. In this study, we adopted a training approach from second language (L2) acquisition, referred to as structured input, that has been successful in training a number of grammatical forms in L2 learners. Seventy-seven children who were D/HH and between the ages of 5 and 12 years took part in a 16-session training program designed to improve both perception and comprehension of four bound morphemes: contractions, plurals, past tense, and possessives. In addition, we used a recently developed assessment procedure to obtain independent measures of perception and comprehension. Perception scores at baseline (prior to training) all exceeded 80% and there were small, but nonsignificant, gains in perception following training. In contrast, baseline comprehension measures for three of the four bound morphemes (all except contractions) were below ceiling, and training produced significant gains in all three of these bound morphemes. Implications for training acquisition of morphosyntactic structures and developing personalized audiological rehabilitation protocols are discussed.

Keywords

auditory training - bound morphemes - deaf-or-hard-of hearing - structured input

Publication History

Article published online:
08 September 2025

• References

• Barcroft, J., Mauzé, E., Sommers, M., Spehar, B., & Tye-Murray, N. (2025). Perception versus comprehension of bound morphemes in children who are deaf and hard of hearing: the pivotal role of form-meaning mapping. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 68, 1024–1037
• Brown, R. (1973). A First Language: The Early Stages. Harvard U. Press
• Davies, B., Xu Rattanasone, N., Davis, A., & Demuth, K. (2020). The acquisition of productive plural morphology by children with hearing loss. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(2), 552–568
• Farley, A. P. (2000). Structured Input: Grammar Instruction for the Acquisition Oriented Classroom. Boston: McGraw-Hill
• Glista, D., Scollie, S., Moodie, S., Easwar, V., & the Network of Pediatric Audiologists of Canada. (2014). The Ling 6(HL) test: typical pediatric performance data and clinical use evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 25(10), 1008–1021
• Hayes, H., Geers, A. E., Treiman, R., & Moog, J. S. (2009). Receptive vocabulary development in deaf children with cochlear implants: achievement in an intensive auditory-oral educational setting. Ear and Hearing, 30(1), 128–135
• Henshaw, H., & Ferguson, M. A. (2013). Efficacy of individual computer-based auditory training for people with hearing loss: a systematic review of the evidence. PLoS One, 8(5), e62836–e62836
• Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2000). Beyond Shipley, Smith, and Gleitman: Young children's comprehension of bound morphemes. In B. Landau, J. Sabini, J. Jonides, & E. Newport (Eds.), Perception, cognition, and language: Essays in honor of Henry and Lila Gleitman (pp. 191–201). MIT Press
• Koehlinger, K. M., Van Horne, A. J. O., & Moeller, M. P. (2013). Grammatical outcomes of 3- and 6-year-old children who are hard of hearing. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 56(5), 1701–1714
• Morgan, J. L., & Newport, E. L. (1981). The role of constituent structure in the induction of an artificial language. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20(1), 67–85
• Morgan, J. L., Meier, R. P., & Newport, E. L. (1987). Structural packaging in the input to language learning: contributions of prosodic and morphological marking of phrases to the acquisition of language. Cognitive Psychology, 19, 498–550
• Nittrouer, S., Sansom, E., Low, K., Rice, C., & Caldwell-Tarr, A. (2014). Language structures used by kindergartners with cochlear implants: relationship to phonological awareness, lexical knowledge and hearing loss. Ear and Hearing, 35(5), 506–518
• Nott, P., Cowan, R., Brown, P. M., & Wigglesworth, G. (2009a). Early language development in children with profound hearing loss fitted with a device at a young age: Part I–the time period taken to acquire first words and first word combinations. Ear and Hearing, 30(5), 526–540
• Nott, P., Cowan, R., Brown, P. M., & Wigglesworth, G. (2009b). Early language development in children with profound hearing loss fitted with a device at a young age: Part II–content of the first lexicon. Ear and Hearing, 30(5), 541–551
• Rayes, H., Al-Malky, G., & Vickers, D. (2019). Systematic review of auditory training in pediatric cochlear implant recipients. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research: JSLHR, 62(5), 1574–1593
• Rochette, F., & Bigand, E. (2009). Long-term effects of auditory training in severely or profoundly deaf children. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169, 195–198
• Roman, S., Rochette, F., Triglia, J.-M., Schön, D., & Bigand, E. (2016). Auditory training improves auditory performance in cochlear implanted children. Hearing Research, 337, 89–95
• Schell, J. (2019). The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. CRC Press
• Sommers, M. S., & Phelps, D. (2016). Listening effort in younger and older adults: a comparison of auditory-only and auditory-visual presentations. Ear and Hearing, 37(suppl 1), 62S–68S
• Spehar, B., Tye-Murray, N., Mauzé, E., Sommers, M., & Barcroft, J. (2024). Speech perception training in children: the retention of benefits and booster training. Ear and Hearing, 45(1), 164–173
• Stelmachowicz, P. G., Pittman, A. L., Hoover, B. M., & Lewis, D. E. (2002). Aided perception of /s/ and /z/ by hearing-impaired children. Ear and Hearing, 23(4), 316–324
• Sullivan, J. R., Thibodeau, L. M., & Assmann, P. F. (2013). Auditory training of speech recognition with interrupted and continuous noise maskers by children with hearing impairment. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133(1), 495–501
• Tye-Murray, N., Sommers, M. S., Mauzé, E., Schroy, C., Barcroft, J., & Spehar, B. (2012). Using patient perceptions of relative benefit and enjoyment to assess auditory training. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 23(8), 623–634
• Tye-Murray, N., Spehar, B., Barcroft, J., & Sommers, M. (2017). Auditory training for adults who have hearing loss: a comparison of spaced versus massed practice schedules. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60(8), 2337–2345
• Tye-Murray, N., Spehar, B., Sommers, M., Mauzé, E., Barcroft, J., & Grantham, H. (2022). Teaching children with hearing loss to recognize speech: gains made with computer-based auditory and/or speechreading training. Ear and Hearing, 43(1), 181–191
• VanPatten, B., & Cadierno, T. (1993). Input processing and second language acquisition: a role for instruction. Modern Language Journal, 77(1), 45–57
• Wong, W. (2024). Thirty years of processing instruction and structured input. In W. Wong & Barcroft, J. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Input Processing (pp. 287–301). Routledge
• Yoshinaga-Itano, C., Sedey, A. L., Wiggin, M., & Chung, W. (2017). Early hearing detection and vocabulary of children with hearing loss. Pediatrics, 140(2), e20162964